Underground
by Life-In-The-Shape-Of-A-Girl
Summary: Rose Hathaway walked away from her job, her life and her best friend to go underground. After years of hunting creatures the moroi and dhampir have never heard of, she is invited back to The Court for a special event. Rose not only has to face up to those she once called comrades, Rose has to face an army of evil that no guardian would stand to survive.


**FAGEtastic Four**

**Title: Underground**

**Written for: Mina**

**Written By: Life In The Shape Of A Girl**

**Rating: M**

**Summary/Prompt used: Picture #1 (couple on bed) and #3 (lady in dress)**

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I took one last look in the mirror and smiled appreciatively at my reflection. The watermelon colored dress perfectly highlighted my Middle Eastern features. Sexy, but conservative, the garment flowed nicely over my hidden weaponry. I lifted the hem and double checked that my silver stake was securely strapped to my thigh. Satisfied, I collected my clutch purse. It held nothing more than my hand gun and lip gloss. I then went out the front door.

I was on my way to a dinner party - but it was not just any dinner party. This party was being held by Queen Vasilissa and her King, Christian Ozera. Not so long ago, the Royal moroi couple were two people I could call 'friends'. I guess I still can hold them in that regard, but we no longer talk the way we used to. Not since I'd gone underground.

Although Vasilissa changed a lot of the rules among her people, and threw out a lot of their silly politics, I became frustrated when she ignored the other dangers that threatened the people; both hers and mine. She reasoned that she didn't want to bring fear into the community. She said our people had already been through more than enough. During a heated argument, I called her close minded, and she called me stubborn, among a lot of other things. After we'd both calmed down, we decided to go our separate ways, but promised to keep in touch, always.

Although I knew my best friend, the Queen of my people, would be faithfully protected by my comrades, it was extremely hard to leave her, and my home, behind. However, I know that if I hadn't left, I'd be unable to do what I do now; protecting my kind from dark creatures that most of them have never even heard of.

My mother, of course, had a lot to say about my 'running away' from my guardian duties. But my father thought I was the best thing since the color pink became socially acceptable for men to wear; well, at least to his way of thinking.

The drive to The Court, where the party was being held, took me a little over an hour. I greeted the guards at the gate and couldn't help but to ask them about the strategies they had implemented to keep everyone safe. The guard, a boy of about 18 and most likely freshly graduated, was about to answer my question, when an older guard stepped in front of him. In a sharp tone, he told me that I was holding up the other guests. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a line of cars behind me. I gave the older guard a steely glare and then drove on to the valet service.

Once inside the foyer, I handed my invitation to a moroi lady whom I didn't recognize. She was sitting behind a desk, and I waited patiently as she located my name and crossed it off. The woman looked up from her list and forced a smile, before informing me that I was free to go inside. I gave her a brief smile in response and thanked her.

As I entered the main ballroom, my eyes instantly searched for Vasilissa. It was easy to spot the blond beauty; partially, because she was easily the prettiest woman in the room, but also, because there was no mistaking the shaggy leech attached to her arm - Christian Ozera - otherwise known as her husband. I had barely taken a step forward when her eyes looked up and found mine. Her jade green eyes seemed to convey that she felt the very same excitement and nervousness I did. Or perhaps it was her emotions conveyed through our bond, and I was merely mistaking them for my own. Either way, Vasilissa excused herself from the small circle of people she stood with, and then made her way towards me. Her gait was easily more graceful than mine. It had been quite some time since I'd worn a pair of heels, and I still had a wicked bruise on my hip from a run-in with some werewolves the previous weekend. No doubts about it, she'd had a lot more practice than me, and she was a natural when it came to poise and grace.

Standing in front of each other, there was a brief moment of hesitation before we both opened our arms and hugged.

"I'm so glad you came," she almost squealed in my ear.

"Me too," I replied as loudly as my constricted throat would permit. I'd missed my friend dearly; it'd been a long time since we'd seen each other in the flesh. Since my leaving, most of our communications had been via phone calls and texts. As I stood there in her arms, it was evident that our bond, although still strong, had weakened somewhat since my departure. Getting inside her head was now utterly impossible for me, and it was something that had been bothering me for a while.

Our greeting was barely over, when Lissa began to drag me from one group of people to the next, introducing me to those people who were unfamiliar. During our travels, we ran into my mother. I almost balked when I saw my father accompanying her. My mother, never one to swap a day of guardian duties for a day of fun, willingly, was dressed in a pants suit. The outfit could easily have been mistaken for the old Guardian uniform, except that her white blouse had a small ruffle on the front. My father stood beside her, tall, and with a goofy smile on his face - an expression that fit perfectly with his ridiculous apricot silk tie and matching pocket handkerchief.

"There's our girl!" My father's voice broke through my frozen demeanor, and I forced a smile.

"Hello, Abe… Mom…" I greeted hesitantly.

"Rose," my mother replied, tightly lipped.

The silence that followed was something I was so thoroughly used to that it was no longer awkward - just annoying. My father moved toward me, and I just knew he was about to open his mouth to say something highly inappropriate. For a moment in time, we were frozen in place, so I quickly thought of an escape plan.

"I'm famished, where's the food at, Lissa?" I asked while simultaneously taking a step away from the semi-circle we had created.

"There should be a server around here somewhere…"she petered off, as she craned her neck slightly and gazed around the room.

"Never mind - I'll go find one." I didn't give anyone a second glance, as I dashed away faster than you can say 'arancini.'

I found a server who sadly wasn't serving arancini, but he did have some tasty looking seafood skewers of some sort. I ignored his strange looks as I took three skewers from his tray, and then proceeded to stuff my face before walking around the room. I did my best to avoid eye contact, hoping the other guests would get the hint that I wasn't up for any conversation. I did, however, want to scope out the place, to see what security Lissa put in place for such a large event. I noticed there were no guardians lining the room, and every guardian I had seen thus far (bar the staff at the front gate) was dressed in their ballroom best, which meant they were a guest and, therefore, not on duty.

The room began to fill rather quickly. I noticed one of the side doors was open, and that people seemed to be spilling outside. I made my way through the crowd and stepped out into the large courtyard, thinking I would maybe find some guardians on duty out there. What I saw instead made my stomach drop down to my blistering feet.

The court yard was entirely transformed - covered in white organza and fairy lights. Tall, narrow, round tables were scattered around the edges of the court yard, and each table alternated between holding an extremely large, clear vase full of water and bright, white orchids, or a sizeable silver goblet containing a magnificent flame of blue and yellow. I stood in awe at the scene before me, and I almost missed the sensation of the hairs on the back of my neck as they stood erect, a mere second or two before hearing a familiar voice.

"Hathaway, nice dress."

I closed my eyes tightly and took in a deep breath, reigning in my fury at being caught unprepared.

"How did you get in here?" I asked, before slowly turning around to meet his smirk.

"By order of the Queen, of course. Didn't you know? It's the only way you can get into this… whoa!" He stopped and looked around in awe.

"What do you mean-?"

"Hey, Rose."

I huffed and looked over to the intimidating form of Sam Winchester as he joined his brother.

"Hey, Sam." I looked back to Dean and grimaced at the smirk that had returned to his smug face. "What do you mean by order of the Queen?" I questioned with an icy glare.

He chuckled, grabbed a skewer off a passing tray and took a bite before answering me around his mouthful of seafood.

"I mean she invited us." He shrugged and continued to finish his seafood skewer. He grimaced before swallowing and eagerly looked around him. "Don't they have any pie?"

Silently, I continued to watch him. He licked his fingers and asked a passing server about the availability of pie.

"Ah, no. Sorry."

"Any cheeseburgers?"

The server looked at him as though he was crazy. I grew impatient.

"_Why_ did she invite you?"

He shrugged again and smiled at me in amusement. "Beats me, but hey, check out this suit! I bought it today - what do you think?" He stood to the side, pulled on the hem of his jacket and posed with a ridiculous pout on his lips. I heard Sam chuckling beside him, but I was thoroughly unimpressed by Dean Winchester.

I had run into the Winchester brothers some months ago while searching for a nest of vampires that had decided to make my town their home. I had previously heard of the two hunters, but they had simply been names, reverently spoken of by other hunters, and sometimes, even by demons. When I'd met the brothers in person, I'd initially thought they'd be an asset to my game plan, but when Dean had acted against my plan of attack, making up his own rules as he went along, I came to the conclusion they were more of a pain in my ass than anything else.

Somehow, we managed to work together, killing six vampires from the nest. As we battled, Dean belittled me, saying he thought my plans, and I, were both incompetent and thoughtless. Simultaneously, I told him that I didn't need his help in the first place, as I was quite capable of fighting my own battles.

However, by not having a hundred percent focus on the task at hand, we had accidentally allowed two vamps to get away… in my car. I had fumed as we stood outside the derelict house, watching the tail lights of my beat up Volkswagen driving down the road, leaving behind exhaust smoke and fumes.

"Now look what you've done," I yelled.

"Me? This was your crappy plan!" he yelled back.

I gaped at him. "You_ changed_ my plan, remember? You said it was incompetent and thoughtless!" I screamed.

He huffed breathlessly and looked down the length of the driveway. He waited a while before responding, seemingly trying to get his breath back.

"Well, your plan sucked," he calmly replied. "C'mon, Sam, let's get out of here." He turned and walked towards his car. Sam didn't budge.

"Dean," Sam called out in exasperation.

Dean stopped and turned his head slightly to look at his brother and then at me. "You heard the girl, Sam. She doesn't need our help; she's capable of looking after herself." He turned and continued towards his parked Chevy.

Sam looked at me, and I almost smiled at the obvious concern in his eyes. I realized then that Sam wasn't like his ass of a brother. I nodded toward where his brother was heading and smiled anyway.

"I'll be fine, thanks, Sam," I had said as confidently as possible.

He momentarily put a hand on my shoulder before turning to follow his brother. I turned the other way and began to walk down the long winding drive way, silently calculating how long it would take me to walk home.

I heard the distinctive rumble of the car in the distance before I even saw the glow of the headlights. I only bothered to look beside me when I realized the car was slowing down.

"Get in," Dean barked.

"I'm fine," I stubbornly replied, and I'd continued to trudge along the dusty drive.

He groaned and put on the brakes. "I'm sure you are, but we don't know where the other two vamps went. For all we know, they could be hiding down the road, and I'll never forgive myself if you become vampire steak." The almost full moon aided in seeing the pleading look in his eyes that only held a slight edge of irritation.

I wanted to tell him that I could take on two vampires with my hands tied, but I relented when I heard him add, "Please?"

The drive to my place was only a short one, but it had felt like a lifetime as the silence enveloped us.

A scream brought me back to the present moment. My fighting instinct kicked in, and I reached for my stake, but relaxed when the scream was followed by laughter. Relief washed over me, and I forced myself to calm my breathing.

"Someone's uptight tonight."

I scowled up at Dean. I thought about biting back, but decided he wasn't worth it.

"I'm going for a walk," I said instead.

"Good idea," he replied and moved to follow me.

I looked over my shoulder at him. "You don't have to follow me."

He smiled and nodded once. "I know."

I rolled my eyes and walked onwards - ignoring the fact that he was only two paces behind me. I walked along the wall of the large castle-like building, and instead of turning right to join the crowds of people, I followed the wall to the left, into the darkness. There were still small groups of moroi scattered about the lawn. I kept my head down and followed the wall left again to the side of the building.

I stopped instantly when a shadow caught my eye - it was that of a tall statured man. His graceful walk was silent, as he slinked across the gravel pathway. There was no way on this godforsaken Earth that this creature had been invited by the Queen. In fact, I am pretty sure she didn't even know this kind of monster existed. I pulled my stake from its sheath and gave chase.

**NB: A huge thanks to my beta, Bower of Bliss, for always helping me, always encouraging me and always supporting me no matter what. She always makes positive of the negative in the FF world and she's drama free. I got lucky ;)**

**Also ginormous world wide sized thanks to Mina for being patient and not saying a bad word about me (to my face :P) for the lateness of her gift. I do hope you enjoy it and I sincerely apologise for all the fook ups in my life getting in the way of you getting this sooner. This is just the beginning, another 1-2 chapters to come and I hope you enjoy them all.**

**Thanks for reading. Reviews would floor me, coz I haven't seen any in a few months LOL xx**


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